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Song MeaningAs demonstrated in the movie for which this song played in the credits (The Devil's Own, starring Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt), this is a funeral dirge composed from the dying words of an Irish warrior. The war to which it refers is not only the physical battles he was fighting ("Carry my sword"), but his internal war against all the sin and misery in which his soul was entangled ("Take off my shame").

As is typical with Irish dirges, the song is tragic and yet celebratory: the death is sad, but the warrior is relieved that his war has ended and he may be finding his final resting place in Heaven ("I'm coming home").